“Anything?” Paul asked over comms

Various replies all answered negative

“Keep looking. Bridge?”

Also negative.

It had been 3 weeks since Endeavor arrived back to Earth. An extra week had been added to their “R and R” because of complications with the installation of the rail guns.

After their trip to Area 51, the dragons had been confined to the airbase where they had landed. Paul joined them on the trip back to Florida but had to attend countless meetings and do a lot of business related shopping. President Bell left aboard Air Force One to attend some presidential business.

Paul’s time was spent attending meetings and doing other job-related things. One of the things he noticed while exploring the depths of space was the simples things he missed. Simple things such as being able to tell time. So the first purchases were a few calendars and a watch that didn’t require a battery. The rest of his time was spent socializing with the dragons and the others on the base.

Currently, the Endeavor drifted slightly above the thin disk of rocks that was called the asteroid belt. Specifically, they were near 10 Hygiea looking for signs of a damaged ship in hiding. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Paul was surprised at how spread apart all the asteroids were, he had expected a solid disk of rock.

Zephyr was standing near Paul at a small window that overlooked a small portion of the belt.

Neither of them spoke, but Zephyr’s disappointment was almost palpable.

More time passed, and nothing happened. All they saw was a bunch of large, oddly shaped rocks.

He was watching a smaller asteroid slowly approach 10 Hygiea. He hoped something exciting would happen.

His quiet prayer was answered when suddenly the smaller rock was repelled by a dome of green light.

“Bingo” He pointed out the area to Zephyr and told her what happened

They went to the bridge and sent out a broadcast in Latin on as many frequencies as possible trying to get a response. No answer.

“Load up a Mule. 3 security members, the dragons, and one scientist” he emphasized ‘one’ “What should we expect?”

“I don’t know. All I know is the name and the interior layout.”

They left for the hanger where the Mules were stored

“What’s the background? What happened to it?”

“It was sent to retrieve something, exactly what has been lost because of the amount of secrecy that surrounded it’s mission.”

They were joined by the 3 security team members, two ex-SEALs and a former policeman. The SEALs opted to use the old M4’s because of how familiar the weapon was to them. The policeman was equipped with the SB-15.

“It lost it’s engine room which is how you got the core, but that doesn’t mean it is powerless. It probably has a backup power source that allows it to stay cloaked and maintain an atmosphere. I’m not sure about weapons though, however, we haven’t been fired on so that is probably a good sign”

That didn’t do much to comfort Paul too much

Inside the hanger, the group met up with the rest of the team that would land on the asteroid and attempt to board it. The humans checked their EVA suits for any leaks that would expose them to the lethal environment of space.

Thyra and Drake were wearing what looked like the dragon equivalent. Dull gray metal covered every part of them except their head. Even their tail and wings were covered with sheets of overlapping metal that would allow almost full movement. They brought one for Zephyr as well.

The Mule was prepped in short time and launched without the detachable boosters because of the Endeavor’s short distance to the asteroid.

The landing was uneventful and relatively peaceful because the asteroid lacked an atmosphere but it had to use directional thrusters to avoid bouncing off the surface of the rock.

“Suit up. You” he pointed at the scientist “stay close”

Everyone complied and donned their spacesuits. The dragons just put their helmet on and sealed their suit.

“Low gravity, be very careful” the scientist cautioned

The group exited in two groups because of the size of the airlock. Security first. When all were present, they cautiously advanced towards where the invisible ship was hiding.

“How do we get in?” They were near the location

Thyra pressed a button on her suit’s arm

“Is that a garage door opener?” Paul joked

The guess was pretty accurate. When Thyra pressed it, a small ramp lowered from the ship.

The group boarded the ship, the three security members and Paul entering first to check the area. It was dark. Clear, but very dark.

They flicked on their flashlights and motioned for the others to follow.

“Not enough power for lights huh?” one of the security team members asked jokingly

The group moved into a very large airlock and waited for Thyra to close the ramp behind them

The ramp shut silently as the group looked around with their lights. A slight hiss slowly became louder as air was pumped into the room.

“Atmosphere should be good, dragons breath the same thing as humans”

The three dragons removed their helmets and the humans followed suit. When the hissing stopped, the door opposite the ramp opened up to reveal a long corridor that stretched as far as the flashlights could go.

“So… who wants to take point?” The cop asked nervously

Without a word, one of the SEALs stepped forward and cautiously started to move forward, weapon at the ready. The flashlights sliced across the darkness, momentarily illuminating parts of the ship.

“Where are we headed?” Paul asked as the group advanced past the first set of doors.

The dark corridors were creepy, but the sheer size of them added to the ominous feeling. They were big enough for two of the larger dragons walk side by side. If the sapphire dragon he had met earlier was average size.

“End of this hallway” Zephyr replied

They passed a set of doors that the Mule could’ve driven through.

“How big is this ship?” Paul asked as he cleared an open door with the SB-15 that was tucked against his shoulder

“A little smaller than yours” Zephyr didn’t seem worried about meeting anyone “But probably much more powerful”

“And where is the crew?” the lack of any living creature was unnerving

“Dead. Cryo only works with our four-legged friends so the dragons that look like us are probably dead of age and the others are probably in cryo”

They group silently advanced past more sets of doors before reaching the end of the corridor which ended in a single door.

“Cryo” Zephyr stepped forward and opened the door using a panel that was next to it

If the movies were anything to go on, Paul would’ve expected rows of transparent tubes that would keep a person frozen. No aging, no hunger, no sickness.

Needless to say, it was different. Instead of several individual tanks, it was a single cylinder that occupied the room. A very large cylinder sat in the middle of the room with several consoles scattered about.

“With any luck, at least one of them will live and be able to tell us what they were transporting” Zephyr, Thyra, and Drake moved to a nearby console which lit up at Zephyr’s touch

“What do you mean will live?” Paul asked as the rest of the security team spread out to clear the rest of the room. The scientist glanced over the three dragons’ shoulders at the console

“Cyro is a brutal process, that’s why we can’t use it. Too weak. Even the dragons have a chance of dieing during the wakeup process” Thyra didn’t have her typical happiness in her voice

“No no no!” Zephyr started to enter commands faster

“What?”

Before she could answer the door to the room slid shut and the console shut off.

“Mr. Burns? Just thought you would want to know, the ship just uncloaked” it was from the bridge

Zephyr cut in “Move the ship out of view now!”

The silence from the bridge emphasized their confusion “Um… Mr. Burns?”

“Do what she says”

Paul knew there was a reason for the order

“Copy that, we’ll move to the opposite side of the asteroid”

“What was that abo-”

“Incoming, incoming!” panic filled the comms as an unknown enemy launched an attack on the Endeavor

“Bridge! What’s happening?!” the pings increased in volume

There was a moment of silence before the reply came

“The ship fired on us, three missiles, four lasers, and one… ball of light. We intercepted the missiles. The ball missed by a hair and we are still getting reports on the lasers although no breaches have been detected.” There was a sigh of relief “No casualties”

Zephyr was underneath the console ripping parts off of it

“What just happened?” Paul didn’t want any more surprises

“It’s an old tactic, lock the boarding party in the ship so that the attacking ship won’t fire on it. But this time, it was triggered by my intrusion. I had no idea it would be set up as a trap, it would drain a lot of extra power…”

She tore another panel off the console

“There is no threat now, the ship only has line-of-sight weapons” her tail flicked back and forth while she worked “I just need to override the cyro chamber so we can open it and get out of here”

She worked on the console with Drake while Thyra gave a tour of the room to scientist. The SEALs stayed focused and guarded the door while the policeman watched the group from a corner.

“Got it!” Zephyr exclaimed as the console lit up again

She returned to entering commands into it. A few minutes later, a loud hissing came from the cylinder.

A section of the metal cylinder slid open and green gel washed out of the cylinder before vanishing into a grate in the floor.

“Gross” Paul side stepped

The scientist ran forward and collected a sample of it in a test tube that he pulled from his pocket.

“Cryo gel” Zephyr stepped in first and Paul followed

Inside the cylinder was three large lumps. White, green, and one that was brown with blue markings. They were all dragons. Curled up like giant cats… with scales.

Zephyr moved from one to the other and felt their necks.

“Checking their vitals” she answered before Paul could ask “Two out of three are alive… Lucky”

“How long until they wake up?” He moved closer to examine the brown dragon

The occasional blue splotch dotted the dragon’s scales. Another notable feature was one of it’s horns was shorter than the other. He reached down and touched one of the scales on the forearm of the dragon. It was about the size of a small plate and about just as smooth.

As he looked the large dragon over, it started to stir. It let out a moan and started to yawn. Its massive maw exposing rows of deadly-looking teeth directly towards Paul. The mouth snapped shut and its eyes flicked open.

“Gah!” the voice betrayed his gender as the shocked dragon recoiled away from Paul and smashed his head into the roof. “Ow…”

A puff of smoke came out of his mouth

Zephyr rushed over “Relax, we’re here to help”

The dragon lowered his head to look at Paul “Hello human, how long have I been asleep?”

“About 70 years” Zephyr felt the large dragon’s neck and checked his eyes

“I’m fine” he shook Zephyr’s hands off of his head. He unfurled his tail and began to stand up on his four muscular legs.

The white one started to stir from its artificial sleep so Zephyr went over to help them during the wake-up process.

The brown one stretched his limbs. His claws clicked on the metal floor as he wiggled his large toes. 

“A human!” Paul turned around to see the large red eyes of the white dragon staring at him in excitement.

The white one was female. She was noticeable smaller and less muscular than the brown one. Her build was petite and graceful… for a creature that wasn’t human.

The white one turned to Zephyr “Have we reestablished relationships with humans?”

“Sort of…” Zephyr tried to check her vitals but the large dragon was moving too much.

The white one extended her massive wings and gave some gentle flaps as she stretched her forelegs like a dog would.

“He didn’t make it” Zephyr motioned to the green dragon who hadn’t moved at all

“His death was peaceful and he knew the risks of cyro”

That’s when Paul realized that there was no way one of the larger dragons would fit in a Mule let alone two.

“Um… Zephyr?” Paul was running different ways they could get the dragons aboard the Endeavor

“Leaving… yes… Can you disable your ship’s lockdown? It would make getting out of here easier”

“Yes, yes” the brown dragon exited the cylinder with Paul, Zephyr, and the white dragon. He went to the console that Zephyr had ripped up and gently tapped the screen with a long claw. The lights turned on and the doors to the room slid open.

“Lets go find the armory”

Everyone went with Zephyr down the now illuminated corridors to a large room with complicated machinery. Several separate cubicles were on both sides of the room. Each cubicle had robotic arms folded against the wall and several metal pieces in slots on the wall.

The two dragons stepped into their own cubicle and activated it. The arms went to work placing pieces of armor on the dragon starting with their feet and forming them to make a single suit of space worthy armor.

As the dragons suited up Paul noticed massive weapons on a rack.

“How do they use those?…” There was no way the two-legged dragons could use those

“They are mounted on the armor and linked to the built in display for aiming and firing is done with motions with one of the feet” Drake was watching the dragons equip their suits “They always get the better equipment…”

“Drake, Thyra go check the cargo hold for anything useful” She noticed the desire on the face of the scientist “you can go with them and take whatever you want, we’re destroying the ship when we leave anyways”

One of the SEALs went with the scientist

The three of them left to complete their assigned duties.

“what was your mission? What did you need to retrieve?” She asked the brown dragon who was almost completely encased in metal

“It is in the cargo hold, you will know it when you see it” it was all he said

Zephyr left to retrieve the precious cargo leaving Paul and the two security members who were watching the door.

“Human” the white dragon had finished with her armor, leaving only her head exposed “How much has humanity spread among the stars?”

“We haven’t. The Endeavor” He noticed the blank look in her eyes “Our ship. Is the first and from what I’ve learned probably the only ship.”

“Why?”

“Um… well… our ship’s core is yours…

“So that’s where it went! We looped around your planet to escape your star and it tore off after… Funny that the thing we needed to escape was used to rescue us”

The brown dragon walked over next to the white one. His armor was identical to hers except for the large weapon mounted on his back in-between his wings.

The group returned from the cargo hold, each of them carrying a box.

“Paul, you won’t believe what they’re letting me take” the excitement in his voice was like a child on Christmas morning

“Later, right now we have to find a way to get them” he motioned to the two large dragons “to the Endeavor”

“Tell your ship to move back into position with the hanger facing our location” Zephyr said

Paul relayed the orders. He also had to confirm that the ship was not in any danger anymore.

“we’ll go first in your vehicle, they’ll follow after we return to the hanger”

The bipedal creatures of the group left the ship in the way they entered. They boarded the Mule and took off for the Endeavor.

“Keep the hanger doors open” Zephyr moved to the rear window of the Mule as it gingerly entered the hanger

When the vehicle came to a full stop and was secured with automatic clamps, Paul joined her at the window, along with everyone else.

Off in the distance, Paul could see the damaged ship parked on the asteroid.

“How are they going to get here?” Paul was curious

“Vent a section of the ship and ride the effects of the vacuum out”

A section of the ship opened up throwing various objects out as all the atmosphere was violently sucked into space. When the flow of junk slowed down, the two dragons flew out directly towards the Endeavor.

The sight was strangely beautiful… and frightening at the same time. Their wings were extended and occasionally a small puff of gas would shoot out and adjust their course.

They slowly drifted towards the open hanger. Slowly getting bigger and bigger as they approached.

The male dragon entered first, landing next to the Mule and coming to a stop using small thrusters built into his suit. The smaller female came in a little higher than him. She clipped the top of the Mule and bounced off, she continued forward and hit the wall before she arrested her momentum with thrusters as well.

“Graceful…” Paul said as the hanger doors slowly closed

The sound of the ship slowly returned as air was pumped back into the hanger.

“we should see if she hurt herself”

The group exited the Mule.

The brown dragon had collapsed his helmet and walked around the Mule to the white dragon who was in a jumbled pile on the floor.

“You should have finished your maneuverability training…”

“And you should jump back into space…” she started to stand up

“You hurt?” Paul asked

“No…”

“In that case, welcome aboard the Endeavor”